Bulldog swim teams take 3rd place at Hocks
By Jay Turner
CHS swimmers and coaches pose with their team award after placing 3rd at the Hockomock Championships. (Photo by Josh Perry/HockomockSports)
After pushing each other throughout the season and posting identical 6-1 records, Canton High’s two varsity swim teams both showed up in a big way at last weekend’s Hockomock League Championship meet in Milford, placing third overall out of 12 league schools.
Competing first on Friday afternoon, the boys would rack up 271 points as a team to narrowly edge Milford for a top-three spot. One day later, the girls headed to Milford and produced 241 points, well ahead of fourth-place Oliver Ames’ total of 160. (Attleboro was the overall meet winner for the boys while Franklin won for the fourth consecutive year for the girls.)
“Both teams have exceeded my expectations this year,” said veteran head coach Cheryl Cavanaugh. “Not only did they both come in third at Hocks, but the girls repeated as Davenport Division champions and the boys finished a close second behind Sharon. Our girls qualified for sectionals in all three relay events, and the boys have two relays going to sectionals.”
The top individual performer for the Bulldogs at the league meet was junior Annie McLean, who repeated as the league champion in the 50-yard freestyle and nearly won another gold in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing second overall.
“Annie had a great day,” noted Cavanaugh. “She works extremely hard and she is very humble but has the eye of the tiger when put to the task.” In addition to her two individual events, McLean also picked up two more medals in the 200 freestyle relay along with Olivia Hickey, Julianna Gilchrist and Keeley Harney, which took second, and the 200 medley relay along with Atina Lee, Harney and Hickey, which placed third.
Harney also had a big day for the Canton girls in her two individual events, placing third in both the 100 freestyle and backstroke with personal-best times in each. And coming in fourth for the Bulldogs was the 400 freestyle relay team of Caitlyn Reynolds, Amy Murphy, Gilchrist and Lee.
In the boys’ competition, Canton’s veteran swimmers rose to the occasion on the big stage, led by Talis Veidis, who placed third in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 free. Charlie Smith also impressed with a fourth-place finish in the breaststroke and a fifth-place performance in the 100 fly.
In the relay events, Canton placed top six or better in all three, led by the 200 freestyle relay team of Ryan Hickey, Daniel Bui, Hunter Rice and Veidis, who not only took third overall but qualified for the south sectionals in the process. Also placing third was the 200 medley team of Rice, Veidis, Smith and Bui, while the 400 free relay team of Hickey, Tim Tseng, Anderson Lee and Smith took sixth.
It wasn’t just the top swimmers who contributed to the team’s success at the league meet either; Canton also benefited from its tremendous depth and exciting young talent. Swimmers like Anderson Lee, Ryan Hart, Siya Bais and Amy Murphy all turned in impressive performances in what was a fun weekend all around for the Bulldog swim program.
Canton’s sectional-qualifying swimmers will now prepare for Saturday’s MIAA south championship meet at WPI. The girls contingent includes McLean (100 fly, 50 free), Harney (100 back, 50 free) and Lee (100 back), as well as some of the team’s top relay swimmers. For the boys, Veidis will compete in both the 500 freestyle and backstroke and likely as part of both relays as well.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=121861
Posted by Jay Turner
on Feb 9 2024. Filed under High School, Sports.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
